High-school students (and others) with the desire to enter the health-care profession, but without a specific end result in mind, might want to take their cues from Vickie Beamon.
As community-relations coordinator for Northern Virginia Community College’s Medical Education Campus, Beamon is a Pied Piper of sorts, spreading the word of the campus’s offerings to audiences far and wide.
“We have a lot – a LOT – going on,” Beamon said during recent remarks before the Kiwanis Club of South Arlington.
As with other NVCC campuses, the medical campus (located in Springfield) is a melting pot.
“It is so diverse there, you couldn’t believe it,” said Beamon, who is nearing the one-year anniversary in her position. “We have quite a few students who are first-generation college students. There are also first-generation Americans. They’re all doing it [because] somebody believed in them.”
The Medical Education Campus offers a wide array of associate degrees (including in nursing, which can lead to an RN designation), plus a host of certificate programs. The university also has guaranteed-admissions agreements with dozens of four-year colleges and universities.
Beamon said that while incoming students don’t have to know for certain what degree path best fits them, it’s important to be thinking ahead.
“I tell people, ‘always know your steps’ – follow the steps backward to see where you need to start,” she said.
As part of her job, Beamon meets with high-school students and school-system staff. Earlier in November she participated in a program with Fairfax County Public Schools’ career-and-technical-education counselors, and will do the same with Prince William County staff in early December.
(All programs at the Medical Education Campus have prerequisite college work. High-school students can connect with their own schools’ counselors, or those at NVCC, to get suggestions on how to proceed, Beamon said.)
With shortages in the health-care field often at critical levels, NVCC is working to expand its offerings, including in the nursing field, Beamon said.
“We have more nursing candidates than we can handle,” she noted.
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For information on the Medical Education Campus, see the Website at https://www.nvcc.edu/about/locations/medical-education-campus/index.html.
– Scott McCaffrey
